


Red

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth if you squint, First Meetings, M/M, Starbucks AU, outraged middle aged woman, those red holiday cups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 15:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5338592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Red</p><p>Will regrets working at starbucks because of all of the middle aged people that blame him for the red holiday cups. Nico is a regular customer who is there one day to offer him comfort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> Read it on tumblr:  
> http://hellahanji.tumblr.com/post/134424492199/25-days-of-solangelo

As soon as Will had heard about the red holiday cups he knew he was going to have a rough holiday season. If someone had told him that a job at a coffee shop, let alone a Starbucks, was going to be so frustrating he would have just applied to work at the scary looking bookstore across the street where an extremely scary looking girl with blond hair worked. But he thought that Starbucks would be a more simpler job with more simple tasks. Boy was he wrong.

While the coffee making itself was easy (despite the surplus of terms that seemed to exist for a non fat latte) the difficult thing about working at Starbucks was the customers. Everyday he was faced with either a self entitled teenager who talked on their phone while ordering or an old woman who tried to convince him that she handed him a twenty when she really handed him a ten. But the job paid so he put up with it, at least until angry forty year old women started coming into the store, yelling about how the red holiday cups were not seasonal enough and that they were never buying Starbucks again. By the end of that first week of the holiday season Will was ready to tear his own hair out.

But as November went on there were less people coming in to shout at him and hold Will personally responsible and by mid December Will was positive that the red cup fiasco was over. Oh how wrong he was.

Will was working the mid-shift and it was a slow day because most people had already gone back to work after eating lunch. However there were still quite a few people on line, one of them being a Starbucks regular with dark brown hair decked out in black winter attire. Will wouldn't say he had a thing for the guy but he found himself very flustered whenever he ordered his drink and gave him a small smile before exiting the store. In the back of his mind Will would sometimes imagine different scenarios where the two of them would one day start talking and become friends (an even deeper part of his mind thought maybe more than friends) eventually. But the young man didn't really seem as outgoing and Will knew that this was work and not a place to socialize, despite his coworker Drew who always flirted with boys and took unscheduled breaks to talk on the phone. It didn't bother Will that much though, it gave him more time to sneak glances at the guy with the ponytail without her meddling nature.

In front of ponytail guy was a woman that surprisingly looked like she wasn't confused by the menu and knew exactly what to order. Will smiled at the woman before saying, "Welcome to Starbucks what can I get you today?"

The lady glanced at the menu one more time before ordering.

"I would like a grande peppermint mocha," she said in a business woman like tone.

Will nodded his head at her and went to work making the winter specialty. He poured the contents into one of the red cups without any thought and handed it to the woman and told her the total of the drink.

Will sensed something was off when the woman didn't immediately take the drink. Instead she was studying it as if Will had done something to poison it.

"Is there a problem ma'am?" he asked he most polite tone.

"I thought this was the holiday season," the woman said to him in a flat voice.

"It is," Will said cheerfully even though he felt the exact opposite of cheerful. He knew exactly what was about to come.

"Then why have I not been given a holiday cup?" the woman asked.

"This is the holiday cup. And your total is $4.65," Will told her.

He could see the woman put together the pieces of what was being told to her in her head. And Will was so focused on trying to be as calm as possible and brace himself for what was coming that he didn't even realize that ponytail boy was looking at him with sympathy and the woman with anger.

"How could this be a holiday cup? This is just red! Has this establishment have no idea what a proper Christmas cup is supposed to be?" the woman shrieked.

"I am sorry that you feel this way ma'am but I can't do anything about it. If you have any issues you can contact the company directly via the website," Will said through clenched teeth.

"I am definitely filing a complaint! I'm going to file a complaint and then never step into one of these establishments ever again! You should be ashamed of yourself young man, working for such a company. This would have never happened at my age!" and after the woman's one final yell she threw a five dollar bill at Will and stormed out of the shop with her drink, angrily mumbling to herself.

Will let out a breath of relief and leaned his head on top of the counter. He completely forgot about the attractive guy behind the lady until he heard a shaky laugh.

"Well that was horrible," the young man said while chuckling. "I'm surprised you handled it that well."

"It's not the first time it's happened," Will groaned while picking his head up to look at the man.

"You mean more crazy people like that have come in here yelling about red cups?" the man asked in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Sadly I am not kidding you," Will droned, "there were a lot more of them in the beginning of the holiday season and up until a few minutes ago I thought people had moved on. Apparently not."

"Wow I am so sorry. If it makes you feel better I work at the bookstore across the street and we have people coming in all the time fighting over new releases and I have had to break up more than one fight."

"You work at that bookstore? I was going to apply there when they last needed someone!" Will yelled excitedly.

"Be glad you didn't, otherwise I might not have my job and I also couldn't come in here and order from you almost every day."

"You have a good point...um I don't know your name," Will said awkwardly while he felt the heat rise to his face. How he hadn't spontaneously combusted at all yet was a miracle.

"My name is Nico," said the man, or Nico as Will just found out.

"I'm Will," he said while offering and extended hand towards the other. Nico shook it and Will felt a bolt of electricity shoot throughout his entire body.

"It was nice meeting you Will," Nico said while walking away from the counter. "I look forward to seeing you next time I come in here."

And with that Nico walked out of the Starbucks with a wave. It was only a few minutes later that Will realized that Nico hadn't even ordered anything that day. He wondered if the other would come back later to get something. Will really hoped that he did.

**Author's Note:**

> For the record I have never ordered something from a starbucks so I am sorry if this is inaccurate. But I'm now 2 down and 23 to go!


End file.
